I'm starting this blog so I can share my life experiences on herps with those out there who LOVE them as much as I do! I've been around animals all my life especially reptiles and haven't yet come across one I couldn't tame. My friends have jokingly named me "The Reptile Whisperer" and it rightly suits me!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Female Asian Vine Snake. (this was when she was still in quarantine, being treated for parasites)

Where do they live in the wild?

These snakes are found in Sri Lanka, India, China and most
of Southeast Asia, including many Pacific Islands.

What habitat do they live in?

Their natural habitat is humid rainforests. These snakes are highly arboreal and can be
found in trees and shrubs.

In captivity you must keep this in mind...Their enclosures
must be tall and full of plants and branches for climbing. Minimum enclosure size for this species is 24
inches x 24 inches x 36 inches tall, but bigger is better. Humidity must be kept high, around
60-80%. You can achieve this by spraying
in the enclosure twice a day and if necessary, using a fogger. Substrate can also help hold humidity, use
soil, moss, leaves and/or finely shredded cypress mulch. I suggest mixing these substrates for best
results...Ex: 50% soil with 50% moss or 50% mulch with 50% moss.

When are they active?

They are a diurnal species, which means they are active in
the day time.

In captivity, you will need to provide lighting 12 hours a
day. Unlike most other snakes, Asian
vine snakes need a UVB/UVA light. Since
they are a tropical species the UV strength should be at least 5.0.

What should the temperature gradient be?

Enclosure ambient temperatures should be in the mid 80's
(degrees). You will also need to have a
basking lamp that produces a basking area around 95 degrees.

What do they eat?

Mainly lizards but they will also eat frogs and fish. Some Asian vine snakes in captivity can be
switched over to mice but it is very difficult.
Most will never take mice no matter how hard you try and will only eat
lizards. In captivity you can buy house
geckos and anoles to feed your snake.
They should be fed 4 adult sized lizards a week. These lizards should be gutloaded, just like
you do with crickets. Feed the lizards
gutloaded crickets dusted with calcium plus vitamin D3 powder before feeding
them to your snake. (Gutloading is where
you feed the intended prey healthy nutritious foods before feeding them to your
pet. Ex: Crickets should be fed fresh fruit and veggies 24 hours before you
feed them off. The reason for gutloading
prey is so that your pet will have a nutritious meal full of necessary vitamins
etc.)

Watering?

Asian vine snakes are similar to chameleons and anoles in
that they cannot see standing water and will not drink from a water bowl. These snakes will either have to be hand
misted daily so they can drink the water droplets or be provided with a
dripper.

Vision...

These snakes have really cool looking eyes! Instead of having a round or vertical pupil,
their pupil is horizontal. They also
have excellent vision; some say they have the best and most accurate strikes of
any snake.

Handling??? Bites???

These snakes are rear-fang venomous which means
instead of venom being dispersed by large teeth in the front of the mouth, it
is dispensed by larger teeth at the back of the mouth. These snakes, after catching their prey will
slowly chew with their back teeth to work the venom into their prey. After the prey is subdued the snake will
start to swallow it, often prey is still alive.
Asian vine snakes have a very mild venom, not strong enough to kill a
human, but if bitten, swelling and nausea can occur. That being said, it is not wise to handle
these snakes if you have allergies to insect bites and stings as you could also
be allergic to the mild venom. Over-all
these snakes are quite docile and tolerate handling well. As long as you are not mistreating the snake
it shouldn’t try to bite you. If bites
do occur it is usually from a feeding accident.
You should always feed these snakes with tongs and not your hands. Also, these snakes, just like other snakes,
can mistake your hand for food when you first put your hand in the enclosure. Do not
rush your hand inside, instead move slow so the snake has a chance to realize
your hand isn’t food.

When roaming about the house these snakes are fun to
watch. They do not move like other snakes
and slither with most of the body touching the ground. They tend to stick up half their bodies as
they slither looking for a high place to crawl up. They can also horizontally stick out most of
their body like a branch while only holding on to something by the tail. Very cool to watch them climb up and over
things!

Life span?

There is very little information regarding life span as most of these snakes are sold as wild caught adults. Very few people have ever bred them successfully. So far it is estimated they can live 10+ years.

Size...

They can reach up to 6 feet in length. Females tend to be bigger than males.

Breeding...

These snakes are live bearing and will give birth to a small litter of babies three months after copulation.

Health care...

Since most of these snakes are wild caught you will have to treat them for parasites. This can be a challenge because you have to give wormer orally. Wear gloves so you do not get bitten by accident when administering medications. Sometimes you will also have to treat for mites, respiratory infection, fungus etc. (see my other post Care of newly acquired reptiles http://thereptilewhisperer.blogspot.com/2010/05/care-of-newly-acquired-reptiles.htmlto learn how to treat for parasites and illness).

Social?

Both sexes or same sex pairs/groups can be housed together and get along just fine.

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About Me

I was born in Miami, Fl and started catching herps at the age of 5. That was about 25 years ago and I have been keeping, rescuing and breeding them ever since. All my pets are tame, which you can see in the videos on my YouTube channel. Some people say I have a way with animals as I haven't come across anything yet I couldn't tame down. (I have a lot of patience and I'm good at reading reptiles) For this my friends and family have nick named me "The Reptile Whisperer". I currently have 50+ herps, some of which came from the reptile rescue I used to work for. Most are tropical aboreal species (mainly lizards). My current breeding projects are Cuban Knight anoles, Tokay geckos, White lined geckos, Giant day geckos, Crested geckos, Veiled chameleons, Oustalet's chameleons, Green tree monitors and Blue tree monitors. Plans for the future is to become a Herpetologist:)